Poetry: No Rabbits in the Hours Before Dawn by Sue Finch

No Rabbits in the Hours Before Dawn

Suddenly the whole world narrowed;
wheat fields and green forests dropped off the edge
leaving the straight grey road halved by white lines.
Ahead an unreachable horizon,
no hills
and no rabbits in the hours before dawn.

My world became 
a clouded midday of stolen shadows,
trees stripped of their leaves by Winter’s return 
offered their branches to ravens
so they could sit mocking with their rusty-hinge calls.

With that phone call I heard you might die. 
We all will die, of course,
but we are not ready.

We have not seen enough
rabbits in the hours before dawn. 

Bio: Sue Finch’s debut collection, ‘Magnifying Glass’, was published in 2020. She loves the coast and the scent of ice-cream freezers. You can follow Sue on Twitter: @soopoftheday.